UPDATE - 3/13@10:43PM: I'm now hearing that the Casino Rama show won't be happening. There may have been discussions at some point, but as of right now it doesn't look likely. I'm crossing that one off the list. But to replace it, I'm adding the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, CT. I've heard from a source at the venue that Rush will is tentatively scheduled to play there on July 19th.

Information regarding Rush's expected 2010 tour finally started coming together this past week. A number of sources are indicating that an official tour announcement is coming next week, most likely on Monday, March 15th. Whether that announcement will contain the complete tour itinerary or just some general information (opening date, number of stops, etc.) remains to be seen. Assuming my information is correct (not always the best assumption to make!), it looks like the North American tour will kick off in Albuquerque, NM in mid-late June and run through September. Here are the dates I have thus far:

June ?? (mid-late June): [venue unknown] - Albuquerque, NM
July 3rd: Summerfest - Milwaukee, WI
July 19th: Mohegan Sun Arena - Uncasville, CT
July ?? (mid-late July): 2 shows at the Casino Rama - Rama, Ontario (60 miles north of Toronto)
Aug ?? (early August): Shoreline Amphitheater - Mountain View, CA
Aug ?? (early August): Sleep Train Pavillion - Concord, CA
Aug 5th: USANA Amphitheatre - Salt Lake City, UT
Aug 22nd: Verizon Wireless Amphitheater St. Louis - Maryland Heights, MO (outside St. Louis)
Sep ??: Molson Amphitheatre - Toronto, ON

I'm hoping to hear a few more dates before the weekend is over. If I do I'll put up a new post to replace this one, which is getting pretty cluttered. But I'm really hoping we'll have some solid and official dates early next week. Until then, we'll rely on the rumors and leaked info. If anyone has any industry connections or contacts at the various concert venues, please find out what you can and let us know. I keep hearing that the tour will continue into 2011 and that South American and European legs will be included but there are very few details on that front, and I'm guessing that the the initial tour announcement won't say much about this. It's now pretty clear that Rush will not be releasing an album of new material prior to the tour, but instead we can hopefully look for a couple songs to be released digitally (Rush.com, iTunes?), maybe even along with the tour announcement. And I haven't heard any information at all on the theme of this tour; will they celebrate the 30th anniversary of Permanent Waves? will it be a b-sides tour? will they wear kimonos? will they play Stonehenge? With no new album to tour on, it's anybody's guess at this point.

In addition to all the tour news coming in, information regarding the Rush documentary also surfaced this past week. Despite a bit of joking around regarding the premier by the filmmakers, it looks like the film will open at the Tribeca Film Festival on Saturday, April 24th. Hopefully this information will be confirmed when Tribeca announces their complete schedule of films this coming Monday, March 15th, because I really don't want to buy a plane ticket to Siberia. :) It's also expected that they'll announce the DVD release date for the documentary as well, which Power Windows is now reporting has been delayed until sometime in June. This is complete speculation on my part, but I'm thinking that Rush will take the opportunity on Monday to announce both the tour and the documentary release in one fell swoop. We can only hope; not sure if I can stand another week of waiting!!

The Rush Backstage Club emailed out their newsletter last night announcing that they now have available new, remastered versions of all the Rush tourbooks dating back to the 2112 album! You can check them out at the Rush Backstage Club at this link and purchase one for $14.99. They are also running a new contest where you could win 1 of 3 R30/Feedback dryer t-shirts. The tie-dyed t-shirts are the same ones that Geddy threw to fans from his dryers during the R30 tour! On the back of the t-shirt the text reads: Hey man this shirt came from Geddy's dryers. The contest ends on March 24th and you can sign up to enter at this link. You can also now follow the Rush Backstage Club on Facebook and Twitter.

Neil Peart's percussive-centric version of The Hockey Theme debuted back in January during a Philadelphia Flyers at Toronto Maple Leafs game on The Sports Network (TSN). The video of the song can be seen on YouTube and runs about 1-minute long. It features Neil pounding away on his custom NHL kit along with hockey video highlights interspersed throughout. There's also a version of the video with just Neil playing. The song is also available for purchase on iTunes at this link and will be available for Rock Band next week. Neil Peart wrote extensively regarding his experience recording the song in his most recent news update at NeilPeart.net. In the update he mentioned that the Drum Channel would be releasing a Making of video at some point in the near future. As promised, you can now check out the 9-minute Making of The Hockey Theme with Neil Peart video at the Drum Channel website at this link. Here's a YouTube preview video.

A couple of months ago it was announced that Rush along with Quebec musician Robert Charlebois would be the 2010 songwriter inductees into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. Rush will be recognized for their songs Limelight, Closer to the Heart, The Spirit of Radio, Tom Sawyer and Subdivisions. The 2010 inductees will be honored at the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame 6th annual Gala on Sunday, March 28th at the George Weston Recital Hall, Toronto Centre for the Arts. The performers for the gala were announced earlier this week and will include Canadian hardcore rockers Alexisonfire performing Tom Sawyer; Primus frontman Les Claypool playing a version of The Spirit of Radio; and Canadian folk singer/songwriter Jacob Moon doing his rendition of Subdivisions.

Rob Stefaniuk's vampire horror/comedy flick Suck - which features an appearance by Alex Lifeson as a border guard - will get its US premier at the SXSW Film Festival in Austin, TX this coming Wednesday March 17th. For details check out this post.

Canadian actor/comedian Mike Myers was a guest on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon last Friday. In one segment called Mike's Canada Corner Mike sits at a desk and talks about US/Canada relations in the wake of Canada's victory over the US in men's hockey at the 2010 Winter Olympics last month. At one point he brings up the Rush-Bagot Treaty:

... Let's talk about the Rush-Bagot treaty of 1817. Now the Rush-Bagot treaty of 1817 is not to be confused with the Rush treaty of 2112 - a treaty in which every citizen in North America will be issued a copy of what is arguably the greatest concept album ever recorded by a power trio...

While he says this, a picture of Rush from the 70s is displayed along with the cover of the 2112 album. You can watch the show online at this link. The Rush part comes in at about the 27-minute mark. Thanks to Bob M for the heads up and philradz for the video link. Speaking of 2112, the album celebrated its 34th anniversary this past Wednesday.

Speaking of anniversaries, today happens to be Alex Lifeson and his wife Charlene's 35th wedding anniversary. Congrats and may you have many more!

Neil Peart's original Slingerland drum kit (which he used from Fly By Night through 2112) will be on display for a charity fundraiser featuring Rush tribute band Chronicles at Last Call in Naperville, Illinois on Saturday, March 20, 2009. Chromey - as the kit is affectionately referred to - will be on display starting at 7PM. You can have a picture taken with the kit for $10.00 and actually play it between the hours of 7-9PM and 11:30PM-12AM for $20.00. All proceeds collected will go directly to the American Cancer Society. You can also donate directly online at this link. Chromey's owners ran a similar fundraiser at PASIC this fall and raised over $1200! The kit was purchased on eBay last Summer and restored to a playable condition by the new owner Dean with the help of Michael of NeilPeartDrumsticks.com.

Greater Boston Rush tribute band Lotus Land was featured in a Boston Globe article this week which discussed the growing popularity of tribute bands. Lotus Land played a show on February 19th at Patriot Place in Foxboro, MA opening for KISS tribute band ALIVE. The article mentions the show and how it sold out the 1050 capacity club. Thanks to Donna Halper for the link. Speaking of Rush tribute bands, the 2007 documentary television series Tribute Bands is currently airing on IFC Canada. The first episode of this 4-part documentary series focuses on Rush tribute bands and is called For the Love of Rush.

Rolling Stone's Rock and Roll Daily blog compiled a list earlier this week of readers picks for the best Freedom Song. Rush's Freewill made the list at #4. You can check out the entire top 10 at this link. Thanks to mhill for the heads up.

DrumDiscounters.com is an online drum retailer that offers free downloadable play-a-long songs for drummers. The songs are available as mp3 files with either the music and drums on both channels, just the music on both channels (drumless), or a split version with drums on the left channel and the music on the right channel. They have several Rush songs available including Fly By Night, Limelight, A Passage To Bangkok, Subdivisions, Tom Sawyer, The Trees and YYZ. Thanks to Power Windows for the info.

A couple of weeks I ago I mentioned a veiled Rush reference in a recent episode of ABC's Lost. In the episode The Substitute (Season 6, episode 4) the character Jacob leads Locke down a ladder to his cave ... Jacob's Ladder! Entertainment Weekly's Popwatch blog noticed the Rush song reference (and also the Huey Lewis song of the same name) and discussed it, asking their readers which was the proper music reference; Rush or Huey Lewis. The votes have been tallied and Rush came out ahead. From the Popwatch blog:

Finally, the tweets have been tallied: By a vote of something like but not necessarily 85-50, America has decided that when it comes to a ladder belonging to Jacob, the proper music reference is Rush, not Huey Lewis and The News. (Others receiving votes: Bruce Springsteen, Bruce Hornsby, and... Chumbawamba.) Thanks to everyone who slightly clogged Twitter by participating in this contest. So, what happens now? Well, I believe we can make Jeff do whatever we want, and right now I'm thinking that he should spend the rest of the week listening to "Cygnus X-1" on Rush's excellent A Farewell to Kings, which, according to Wikipedia, contains "the highest note sung by Geddy Lee on any studio album (Bb5 at 9:27)." But I'm open to suggestions.

Reader RushFanForever pointed me to this great Performing Musician article from last September on Neil Peart's drum tech Lorne Wheaton. On working with Neil:

... "[Neil] doesn't touch a stick at home; there's not one drum there!" Lorne explains. "But he works very hard when it comes down to it. Usually with Rush, Neil and I will get back together four weeks before the band rehearsals start and I'll have four days with the kit first. I'll take it to pieces, redo everything, wax it and have it all set for him. Then he does two or three weeks' worth of just getting his hands in shape and playing to a CD of songs that they've talked about using in the set. We've gotta rehearse that for five hours a day, for two to three weeks, and he'll work the calluses up on his hands. After that, he'll be ready for four weeks of rehearsals with the band. It's a nice way of being able to do it; you get time to make everything right before anybody jumps into it!" ...

Reader RUSHgeek snapped a photo of this Rush-inspired billboard for portable generators that can be seen heading up the highway from Toronto to Orillia. You can check it out at this link.

The University of Alberta's student newspaper The Gateway recently celebrated Canadian Music Week by asking their staffers to write about their favorite Canadian bands. Aaron Yeo chose Rush:

Rush. Need I say more? No, I don't need to, but I will anyway.

The unchanging trio of Alex Lifeson, Geddy Lee, and Neil Peart have been in the limelight for over three decades (a few hundred dog years), and have earned their right in Canadian music history. With hearts full of soul and bravado, each of them have been finding their way to the top in the world of music today. They've each made a name for themselves in everyday glory, so that none of them are ever referred to as "that guy from Rush."

As a band, they're decidedly Canadian, and have become both a national icon and the pride of the country. Their support spans at least half the world, and while the fanbase is predominantly male, the breadth of ages is huge. Ranging from greasy garage band teenagers to 50-year-old working men who were once in a band - but then got married - Rush have been making memories for their aficionados who are all proud to listen to YYZ for another 2,112 times.

While they may not be the most popular band in the spirit of radio, Rush have established their amazing body of work and caused permanent waves across the globe. They are Canada.

Well said!

The April, 2010 issue of the UK's Classic Rock magazine contains a reprint of an old Neil Peart interview from 1980 where Neil discusses the making of the Permanent Waves album. You can check it out be clicking on the thumbnails above. Thanks to ADesignForRush for the heads up and the scans.

UK alternative/progressive rockers Muse played the Air Canada Center in Toronto earlier this week and at the end of their song Plug in, Baby they busted into Rush's YYZ. You can check out the video below or at this link. The Rush bit begins at about the 4:20 mark. Thanks to Cygnusxx1 for the heads up.

Have a great weekend and keep your fingers crossed for an official tour announcement next week.

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